The 2019 Big Book shortlist has just been unveiled, and we are thrilled to see that it includes both I Am the Seed That Grew the Tree: A Nature Poem for Every Day of the Year and Alphabet Street!
Returning for the second year, the Big Book prize is run by Hearst UK, as part of their awards and accreditation initiative, aimed at discovering the best new fiction and non-fiction titles in UK publishing.
The top books were chosen by the Editors of the eight participating Hearst brands: Women’s Health, Good Housekeeping, Prima, Red, Best, Digital Spy, Cosmopolitan, and Harper’s Bazaar.
Judith Secombe Managing Director, Commerce & Good Housekeeping Institute at Hearst, said: “I’m so excited to see Big Book continue to go from strength to strength as it enters its second year. The quality and calibre of the books on our shortlist is a testament to how passionate both our Reader Panel and our editorial experts are about giving recognition to great storytellers. We’re so pleased to be able to share our top picks with our highly engaged audiences who we know respect and trust our opinion and recommendations.”
Both I Am the Seed and Alphabet Street are shortlisted in the Red Children’s Illustrated category.
I Am the Seed That Grew the Tree: A Nature Poem for Every Day of the Year, illustrated by Frann Preston-Gannon and collected by Fiona Waters, is a lavishly illustrated collection of 366 nature poems – one for every day of the year, including leap years. Filled with familiar favourites and new discoveries, written by a wide variety of poets, this is the perfect book for children (and grown-ups!) to share at the beginning or the end of the day, or just to dip into.
Here’s a look inside the book:
Alphabet Street, written by Jonathan Emmett and illustrated by Ingela P Arrhenius, is a bright and fun interactive book, perfect for little hands.
There’s so much to discover in this ingenious little book! Read the story, lift the flaps, enjoy the funny rhyming text, learn the letters of the alphabet and, then, when you’re finished, flip the book and have fun with the playscene on the reverse!
Watch the trailer below:
You can read the full 2019 Big Book shortlist here.
The winners of Big Book will be announced in June. Best of luck to Frann, Fiona, Jonathan and Ingela!
